Do you race bicycles? Who are you?
01-24-17, 08:49 AM
#1
Do you race bicycles? Who are you?
Who races bicycles? What kind(s) of folks race, what is your professional and personal background; single, married, family man/woman? Work life balance?
01-24-17, 08:50 AM
#2
Do you race?
01-24-17, 08:54 AM
#3
This thread is race-ist.
Reported!
Reported!
01-24-17, 08:54 AM
#4
Senior Member
Join Date: Jul 2012
Location: Atlanta GA
Posts: 2,844
Bikes: '13 Spech Roubaix SL4 Expert
Likes: 0
Liked 0 Times
in
0 Posts
I race. Cat 3 with aspirations to be a P12. Do crits and RR. Married, 29yo. My wife is the owner of our small team. Sponsored by Giant and race a TCR Advanced SL2. Used to be in the insurance gig now work at a bike shop full time since I love the sport so much.
01-24-17, 08:57 AM
#5
Serious Cyclist
01-24-17, 09:04 AM
#6
Serious Cyclist
You'll find the complete spectrum of professions and family circumstances at races. It's obviously harder to find time and money to take it seriously if you have 3 kids and a 1 hour commute or a job that requires lots of travel, but where there's a will there's a way. My primary care doc has 2 kids under 4, a very busy job as an MD, and probably a mountain of debt from med school but he's still managed to get to Cat 3 and is on a competitive local team that takes a lot of podiums in 1/2/3 races. It seems he has very structured training with a coach and gets all his workouts in starting around 5:30AM. As far as I know his wife also works full time.
01-24-17, 12:55 PM
#8
Senior Member
Join Date: Oct 2015
Posts: 15,929
Bikes: 2015 Workswell 066, 2017 Workswell 093, 2014 Dawes Sheila, 1983 Cannondale 500, 1984 Raleigh Olympian, 2007 Cannondale Rize 4, 2017 Fuji Sportif 1 LE
Liked 3,933 Times
in
2,053 Posts
I raced all of my bikes at once today, inspired by this post. They never even moved, they were so slow. I beat them all walking. Who am I? A Bad-A$$ bike racer, apparently.
01-24-17, 02:07 PM
#9
Senior Member
I race the person within eyesight in front of me all the time. Fortunately some are fast enough to pull out of eyesight pretty quickly so I don't have to race them for long. That's too much work...
01-24-17, 02:57 PM
#10
pan y agua
Join Date: Aug 2005
Location: Jacksonville
Posts: 31,475
Bikes: Willier Zero 7; Merlin Extralight; Calfee Dragonfly tandem, Calfee Adventure tandem; Cervelo P2; Motebecane Ti Fly 29er; Motebecanne Phantom Cross; Schwinn Paramount Track bike
Liked 894 Times
in
458 Posts
Short of getting to Cat 1, and racing NRC events, most everyone has enough time to train to race. It's a question of want to.
8-10 hours a week of well structured training is enough to be successful in Cat 3, particularly if you don't do a lot of long road races.
As a Cat 2, you start running into longer P1,2 races, and most people need a bit more training time, given the length of events, but even at that level, if you maximize your training time, and pick your events, lack of training time shouldn't hold you back.
Personally, I'm a partner in a large law firm and a Cat 3 for life. While I could do the training, never really committed to eat better and drink less. A big engine can only take you so far when it has to carry an extra 25lbs on the chassis.
8-10 hours a week of well structured training is enough to be successful in Cat 3, particularly if you don't do a lot of long road races.
As a Cat 2, you start running into longer P1,2 races, and most people need a bit more training time, given the length of events, but even at that level, if you maximize your training time, and pick your events, lack of training time shouldn't hold you back.
Personally, I'm a partner in a large law firm and a Cat 3 for life. While I could do the training, never really committed to eat better and drink less. A big engine can only take you so far when it has to carry an extra 25lbs on the chassis.
__________________
You could fall off a cliff and die.
You could get lost and die.
You could hit a tree and die.
OR YOU COULD STAY HOME AND FALL OFF THE COUCH AND DIE.
You could fall off a cliff and die.
You could get lost and die.
You could hit a tree and die.
OR YOU COULD STAY HOME AND FALL OFF THE COUCH AND DIE.
Last edited by merlinextraligh; 01-24-17 at 03:00 PM.
01-24-17, 03:00 PM
#11
pan y agua
Join Date: Aug 2005
Location: Jacksonville
Posts: 31,475
Bikes: Willier Zero 7; Merlin Extralight; Calfee Dragonfly tandem, Calfee Adventure tandem; Cervelo P2; Motebecane Ti Fly 29er; Motebecanne Phantom Cross; Schwinn Paramount Track bike
Liked 894 Times
in
458 Posts
Following the progression in the sticky thread on the race forum is a good road map for starting out.
__________________
You could fall off a cliff and die.
You could get lost and die.
You could hit a tree and die.
OR YOU COULD STAY HOME AND FALL OFF THE COUCH AND DIE.
You could fall off a cliff and die.
You could get lost and die.
You could hit a tree and die.
OR YOU COULD STAY HOME AND FALL OFF THE COUCH AND DIE.
01-24-17, 03:11 PM
#12
Senior Member
Join Date: Jul 2002
Location: Sacramento, California, USA
Posts: 40,863
Bikes: Specialized Tarmac, Canyon Exceed, Specialized Transition, Ellsworth Roots, Ridley Excalibur
Liked 3,111 Times
in
1,418 Posts
Another Terminal Cat 3. Although, at 49 there's not a lot of incentive to cat up, since I have to race all those same guys in the M123 races.
House, wife, kids, full time job. Last year, I averaged about 10 hrs/wk. My biggest week was 15 hours. Most of my training is combined with commuting: either I drop my backpack at the office and meet a buddy before work for intervals, or I'll take the long way home for tempo/threshold work. Helps that I have secure bike parking at my office and a shower.
I probably raced 15 or 20 times last season; being a masters 3 gives you lots of options and opportunities to race multiple times in crits.
House, wife, kids, full time job. Last year, I averaged about 10 hrs/wk. My biggest week was 15 hours. Most of my training is combined with commuting: either I drop my backpack at the office and meet a buddy before work for intervals, or I'll take the long way home for tempo/threshold work. Helps that I have secure bike parking at my office and a shower.
I probably raced 15 or 20 times last season; being a masters 3 gives you lots of options and opportunities to race multiple times in crits.
01-24-17, 04:01 PM
#13
Senior Member
Join Date: Jan 2015
Location: Madison, IN
Posts: 1,351
Bikes: 2015 Jamis Quest Comp
Likes: 0
Liked 2 Times
in
2 Posts
I have serious aspirations to start cyclocross racing this fall. (Bike is ready now...fitness is getting there after a serious holiday lapse)
I chose cyclocross primarily for the safety factor. A criterion or road race sounds fun, but at 36 yrs old, married, with 2 young kids and a job...the idea of crashing t 30-40mph does NOT sound fun. I'd rather crash in mud.
I don't think training time will be a problem...I've been making significant gains on just 2-3 hours of focused training per week.
I chose cyclocross primarily for the safety factor. A criterion or road race sounds fun, but at 36 yrs old, married, with 2 young kids and a job...the idea of crashing t 30-40mph does NOT sound fun. I'd rather crash in mud.
I don't think training time will be a problem...I've been making significant gains on just 2-3 hours of focused training per week.
01-24-17, 05:27 PM
#14
ka maté ka maté ka ora
Join Date: Oct 2008
Location: wessex
Posts: 4,423
Bikes: breezer venturi - red novo bosberg - red, pedal force cg1 - red, neuvation f-100 - da, devinci phantom - xt, miele piste - miche/campy, bianchi reparto corse sbx, concorde squadra tsx - da, miele team issue sl - ultegra
Likes: 0
Liked 4 Times
in
4 Posts
former cat 1. was single till i quit racing. lots of travel. lots of races. no work-life balance. 20-24hrs training/wk plus races.
01-25-17, 05:09 AM
#15
Single, a principal at a small architecture firm. Amount of time available for training is not an issue, it's just not a priority. As much as I enjoy racing, I'm generally not an "intense" or competitive person. I'm just really happy that I can participate.
01-25-17, 08:52 AM
#16
Senior Member
I was a cat 3 in my 20's now I'm almost 47 and do a few time trials and maybe a gravel race or two every year. I find that doing a few a year really motivates me to train. I'm a professional photog, I also teach part time at a university, and manage some apartments. I have two kids.
01-25-17, 01:07 PM
#17
Uber Goober
My weekend riding is primarily randonneuring, but along with that, I throw in an occasional long-distance race. Typically with indifferent results, unless I can work it so I'm in a category with no competition (tandem or team, for example). If I was really good at it, I'd probably do a lot more of them.
Next race is the Driveway 6/12/24 hour race in Austin in 10 days or so. I'm expecting a lot of fast locals to be riding circles around me, but I'll take a whack at it anyway. Then there's the UltraSpirit race in Fayetteville, Texas, and the Texas Time Trials in Glen Rose later in the year.
Most of these long-distance races are non-drafting, require no license, aren't split up by the Cat 1/2/3, etc. There are usually some pretty good riders in there, but a lot of regular-guys, too. So in the more popular categories, it's not hard to do "okay", but usually hard to win.
Some of them require a follow car, etc., like RAAM, and I have no interest in those.
And absolutely zero interest in any kind of crit or regular road racing.
And, by the way, I'm a 56-year-old engineer, no kids at home, married, but not a lot happening around the house, so lots of time to ride if I'll use it.
Next race is the Driveway 6/12/24 hour race in Austin in 10 days or so. I'm expecting a lot of fast locals to be riding circles around me, but I'll take a whack at it anyway. Then there's the UltraSpirit race in Fayetteville, Texas, and the Texas Time Trials in Glen Rose later in the year.
Most of these long-distance races are non-drafting, require no license, aren't split up by the Cat 1/2/3, etc. There are usually some pretty good riders in there, but a lot of regular-guys, too. So in the more popular categories, it's not hard to do "okay", but usually hard to win.
Some of them require a follow car, etc., like RAAM, and I have no interest in those.
And absolutely zero interest in any kind of crit or regular road racing.
And, by the way, I'm a 56-year-old engineer, no kids at home, married, but not a lot happening around the house, so lots of time to ride if I'll use it.
__________________
"be careful this rando stuff is addictive and dan's the 'pusher'."
"be careful this rando stuff is addictive and dan's the 'pusher'."
Last edited by StephenH; 01-26-17 at 12:39 PM.
01-25-17, 03:36 PM
#18
Senior Member
51 y/o married, no kids, Cat 3, forcibly retired from mass-start racing last year due to head injury but still will race time trials. Work full time tech job from home, train 8-14 hours/week. Before the injury i was coached and raced about 30 races/year, this year will be more like 5 since there are only that many TTs around here.
01-25-17, 03:39 PM
#19
Serious Cyclist
51 y/o married, no kids, Cat 3, forcibly retired from mass-start racing last year due to head injury but still will race time trials. Work full time tech job from home, train 8-14 hours/week. Before the injury i was coached and raced about 30 races/year, this year will be more like 5 since there are only that many TTs around here.
01-25-17, 07:53 PM
#23
Senior Member
Join Date: Nov 2015
Location: Music City, USA
Posts: 4,444
Bikes: bikes
Liked 1,429 Times
in
711 Posts
I'm a 33 year old Cat 1 (but have been a 1 since I was 20). Race a few PRT events when they're close. Hope to do well at nationals this year.
I teach at an elementary school.
Husband with two kids, including a newborn. Train 8-12 hours a week most of the time. More in the summer.
I teach at an elementary school.
Husband with two kids, including a newborn. Train 8-12 hours a week most of the time. More in the summer.
01-25-17, 08:36 PM
#24
on your lawn
I ride for fun, health and transportation, not racing. Single. male. 46. Engineer. 1 cat.
01-25-17, 08:44 PM
#25
Has a magic bike
Join Date: Aug 2013
Location: Los Angeles
Posts: 12,590
Bikes: 2018 Scott Spark, 2015 Fuji Norcom Straight, 2014 BMC GF01, 2013 Trek Madone
Liked 425 Times
in
157 Posts
Hopefully she may join a Carmel cycling trip we have in Feb.
Got to ride with [MENTION=6684]valygrl[/MENTION] last June in Colorado. We had fun. But based on first hand experience, I can tell you she'd almost certainly win the TT. Unless she started thinking about how much she hates TTs. Then she's beatable.
Here we are getting to the top of Lookout Mtn outside Denver:
Got to ride with [MENTION=6684]valygrl[/MENTION] last June in Colorado. We had fun. But based on first hand experience, I can tell you she'd almost certainly win the TT. Unless she started thinking about how much she hates TTs. Then she's beatable.
Here we are getting to the top of Lookout Mtn outside Denver:
